A Port Harcourt-based businessman and philanthropist, Louis Okonkwo, has rendered an account of how his kinsman, Ifeanyi Amaonye was subjected to untold suffering in the hands of a fellow kinsman and former governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra, Walter Ubaka Okeke. In his words, Amaonye, who claims to be a close friend and confidant of the victim expressed regrets over the incident and explained his role in the whole saga.

“My name is Sir Louis Okonkwo. I am a Knight of Saint Christopher (KSC). I am a retired Schlumberger engineer residing in Port Harcourt. I am deeply worried about what my good friend, Sir Ifeanyi Amaonye, a successful business personality; a man well respected and loved by most people, is going through in the hands of our fellow Anambra State brother and former Governorship aspirant in one of the biggest political parties, Hon. Walter Ubaka Okeke.

I have two reasons for crying out loud; One is for all those who know both personalities to please find a way to intervene before anything goes further wrong, especially, by the volume of threats that the former aspirant is issuing openly; Two is to correct the impression in the public domain that my friend, Sir Ifeanyi Amaonye, is using his connection to undo Hon Walter Ubaka Okeke.

One day in 2019, I visited my friend, Sir Amaonye, in his office in Port Harcourt. It was at that instance that he told me his worries over a large quantity of drilling pipes, tools, cases, portacabins, generators, and other equipment that he needed to be properly accommodated because his yard was filled up, coupled with the construction work going on along Aba Road, then.

I am from Anambra State together with him, Sir Amaonye. I immediately recollected that another fellow Anambra man, Hon Okeke, had a large place that could solve this problem. I now mentioned to my friend, say, look our brother from Nanka named Hon. Walter Ubaka Okeke has a place in Trans Amadi, though, it is overgrown with bushes and weeds, and it was not in use. It also has an uncompleted building. My friend then said yes that he knew the said Hon Okeke, that the man was his uncle’s friend. I however spoke some parables that showed that some caution was needed, but I doubt if my friend caught the hidden message.

My friend then called the man, Hon Okeke, and he answered immediately, warmly, and greeted him well, and said he was speaking from London. My friend now mentioned that he learnt that he had a place in Trans Amadi where he could stock his drilling items and other equipment. Hon Okeke said yes, it was true, and even asked if my friend didn’t know he had such a place? My friend answered him in my presence that no, he didn’t know. Hon Okeke said my friend was free to use the place, even for free.

Hon Okeke, however, said the only problem was that road and drainage construction work had blocked access to the place but that my friend was free to visit the place to see things for himself. He also said my friend could go ahead to create access (culvert) and clear part of the place and stock his things there, free of charge.

My friend, Sir Anaonye, said alright, that he would send his people there to meet whoever was in charge and do those repairs and create a culvert for them to gain access to store his drilling tools; pipes, porta cabins, generators and other equipment. My friend then asked his workers to go see the place. They did and reported back to him, as he told me later because I continued to monitor the matter to see it went well.

I am also aware that Sir Amaonye sent his workers and moulded new slabs and made the culvert to create access to the place. He even sent me the photos to show how far he had transformed the place. The gates and fence were in bad shape but my friend and his team were able to fix them. My friend even sent the photos to Hon Okeke (now his landlord) to see the new look because the man said he was still in London. My friend now made arrangements to move the things there.

Surprise Number One:

While this was going on, the first surprise I got was that Hon Okeke sent my friend a message and said, “Ifeanyi, you will pay oh”. My friend said, okay, how much do I pay? Hon Okeke replied thus; “Ifeanyi, you have to pay N1m a year”. I was relieved that my friend did not argue and told him to send his account details since he was still in London. Hon. Ubaka sent his FCMB account number bearing Walter Ubaka Okeke. My friend made a transfer of N1million and forwarded the transfer receipt to him, and told me all about the transaction. Hon Okeke, as the landlord, acknowledged it and wrote that the money was in receipt for rent of open yard for one year. They moved in.

Surprise Number Two:

My second surprise came after some months when Hon Okeke called my friend to say some other person wanted to make use of that place and that they were willing to pay him N1.5m for one year and would pay N3m for first two years. Hon Okeke said that because my friend, Sir Amaonye, is his brother and friend, and because he (Sir Amaonye) fixed the place, he would still accept N1m per year but that my friend should pay for more years. Hon Okeke said he needed money in London where he said he was still staying. At that point, my friend told me he was no longer comfortable in this transaction, but I did not know that more was still to come. My friend told me that he actually did not want to use Hon Okeke’s facility for a long time, but Hon Okeke began to push him to make further payments. He would not allow him to rest, he kept on pestering him, and my friend kept reporting these things to me. Sir Ifeanyi now decided to, and added another N2m, totalling N3m for three years. His landlord (Hon Okeke) acknowledged it. Later, Hon Okeke asked for another N500,000 upfront, and my friend also gave him, making a total of N3.5m.

Surprise Number Three:

After some time when Hon Okeke (the landlord) had returned from London and visited the place and must have seen its new beauty, he said he wanted to rent one side of the compound to another person, and that my friend should compact their things to one side. My friend told me this and I appealed to him to comply, for peace sake. He did and hired forklifts and crane to move their things to the side he asked them to. Soon, Hon Okeke asked them to shift again, and again, my friend hired forklifts and cranes to move their things further and ran further expenses.

Final Surprise:

The biggest surprise or shock rather, came sometime around January 23 this year (2022). My friend was coming out of the church when his yard manager called him and said that his landlord, Hon Okeke, came to the premises, seized the phone of the guard on duty, moved in with over 10 trailers and many thugs and started loading my friend’s items, mostly drilling pipes, into these trailers.

My friend was confused, he said, it can’t be possible. My friend asked the yard manager, who told you? The yard manager said a policeman that normally assisted them to ‘put eye’ at the site called them to say that somebody came there with over 10 trailers and forklifts and many thugs. My friend’s workers rushed out there, and truly, they met their landlord, Hon Okeke. To their surprise, their landlord ordered his men to stop them from entering, saying that the items belonged to him.

My friend’s shocked workers could not even locate the guard. They were to realize that Hon Okeke had seized the guard’s phone, tied and locked him up somewhere. The workers at this point called my friend and told him the situation. My friend asked them if his landlord, Hon Walter Ubaka Okeke, was truly there. They said yes, he was there. He asked them to give him the phone, let him talk to him (Hon Okeke). Hon Okeke collected the phone and began to abuse my friend. He even told my friend that the pipes and the equipment belonged to him, not to my friend. My friend said he was more confused, shocked and taken aback.

Response and Troubles:

My friend started making calls. He called the then Commissioner of Police (CP), Rivers State and told him what was happening. The then CP said it can’t be true. My friend told the CP it was true, that he could confirm. The CP then called the Trans Amadi Police Station Officer (SO) who rushed there and saw everything. Some trucks had left. On sighting the police, the thugs left but the police were able to arrest some trucks loaded with items and the forklift along with Hon. Ubaka. They took Hon. Ubaka to the Trans Amadi Police Station and detained him. He was interrogated by the police. It was reported to my friend that even at the police station Hon Okeke maintained that he owned the items and equipment. In fact, he told his thugs to chase away my friend’s yard manager and men to ensure they did not enter the compound.

Later at the police, his lawyer came, and he started changing his statement, probably with advice from his lawyer. He now said that the pipes and equipment did not belong to him; that they belonged to my friend but that he as the landlord was taking them to Onne on behalf of my friend (imagine). He now said that those equipment (worth over N800m at that market price) were mere scraps which he wanted to take to Onne to keep for my friend (wonders will never end).

This is someone that is paying millions of naira to safeguard those items there and this man is now calling those things scraps. My friend further wondered if he or any of his workers told his landlord, Hon Okeke, to move the equipment to Onne. But the drivers of those trailers that were arrested made statements and said they were hired to take those pipes and equipment to Eleme Junction Steel Village where such things were on sale.

The police, as I heard, took statements from both parties, and thereafter granted Hon Okeke bail. Both parties were asked to come back on the Thursday, May 27, 2022, to see the Commissioner of Police. At this point, my friend came into Port Harcourt and went to the CP’s office on that Thursday. All parties were present.

Insults and Threats by Hon Okeke:

I was keeping very close to my friend all this while because I led him to this man. At the police headquarters in Port Harcourt on the said Thursday, the CP was trying to see how to resolve the matter, but Hon Okeke started saying all sorts of things against Sir Amaonye; calling him a mere Onitsha trader, calling him a fraudster, etc. My friend could not understand where those ones were coming from. Mind you, my friend was not claiming ownership of the land. My friend told the CP; please, these equipment belong to a company, they are not my personal property. Why would my landlord take them away without my consent? Rather, Hon Okeke started bragging, calling my friend a criminal, a fraudster, etc. The matter went on.

At this point, the CP (also from Anambra) seemed to be fed up and asked Hon Okeke to withdraw that statement. Before my friend and the police could know what was happening, Hon Okeke, right in front of the CP, served my friend Fundamental Human Rights Application from a High Court. Apparently exasperated, the CP asked both parties to go.

At this point, Hon Okeke started threatening my friend. He particularly promised to kill the guard first, if he saw him there again. The guard even ran away saying he was seeing strange persons at night. This made my friend to write a petition to the Inspector General of Police in Abuja.  The police came and invited him (Hon Okeke), but it took him three weeks to bother to go. By this time, his matter on Fundamental Human Rights (FHR) was on in court. The late Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Joseph Egbunike asked him to withdraw that FHR suit, that the matter was criminal in nature.

Okeke’s Bizarre Claim of N38m:

At the point of trying to resolve the matter, Hon Okeke began to claim that my friend owed him N38m for rent. This was to my utmost amazement and the amazement of anybody connected with this rent arrangement since 2019. We were hearing about that kind of money on this matter for the first time. DIG Egbunike, of blessed memory, asked Hon. Okeke how many years rent would the N38m be for? He (Hon Okeke) said he was calculating what the space would be in square meters. But, he (the landlord) could not produce any letter or text message where he had demanded for N38m from my friend, and for what purpose. DIG Egbunike told him to withdraw the case first, since he (Hon Okeke) cannot take the police to court and be here asking the police to work for him (because his suit included the police). That was what happened at the DIG’s office.

The DIG asked his men to investigate the criminal matter well (while he, Hon Okeke, continued his FHR matter since he did not want to withdraw it). The police did and we learnt they submitted legal advice that indicted Hon. Okeke. They advised the Police Command in Port Harcourt to charge him (Hon Okeke) to court.  The police began to look for him to charge him, (Hon Okeke) but they could not find him. He disappeared into thin air, but he was still following up his Fundamental Rights case. Next thing, the court surprisingly awarded judgment against my friend on the fundamental rights suit, and awarded N5m damages in Hon Okeke’s favour. My friend’s lawyers immediately appealed this right away and a stay of execution was also filed.

Surprise! Selling of the Industrial Equipment:

It appeared Hon Okeke was bent on selling the drilling pipes and other industrial equipment. This is because while the matter was still in the police, Hon Okeke allegedly got support from the Deputy Sheriff’s office and started selling off the pipes, the same pipes in the sealed premises that were exhibits in a criminal case. His excuse was that he got judgment against my friend, but they had appealed that judgment. He began to sell the remaining items that were now police exhibits in a court of competent jurisdiction. My friend moved and contacted the Police on the development. They went there and were able to stop him. But, before the police could stop him, he had used soldiers to take away equipment such as generators, mixers, etc.

Back to CP:

The CP now invited them again to his office and asked them why they were selling my friend’s property the second time. After long arguments, the CP asked both parties to come the next day for continuation.

Meanwhile, the State CID had been looking for him. The CP had asked the O/C Legal to interpret the matter for him. The State CID now told the CP that they had been looking for him (Hon Okeke). This was when the police took him to the Chief Magistrate Court who remanded him. This happened on a Friday and he was to be arraigned the next Wednesday. To my friend’s greatest surprise, on Tuesday before the Wednesday that the case was to be heard, information reached my friend that he (Hon Okeke) had been released from detention by a High Court.

He now went and instituted another ‘Fundamental Human Rights’ suit the second time. This was interpreted by everyone especially the Police as another ploy to stall the proceedings of the Magistrate Court so that he would scuttle the criminal prosecution. This new suit was for N600m against my friend, Sir Amaonye, and the police for alleged illegal arrest. Imagine such a suit coming from a man that was caught red-handed trucking away (stealing) my friend’s industrial equipment including generators and drilling pipes.

While his human rights matter went on in the High Court, he went to Abuja and filed another petition against my friend on the same matter. The CP Legal at the Force Headquarters invited both parties again and asked my friend to face the DIG. When my friend got there, instead of taking him to the DIG, one CSP said my friend should make statement. This seemed bizarre because this is a case that had been investigated and sent to court. My friend was arrested and detained in Abuja by the same police and had to be bailed by his lawyer, Barr. Mike Mbanefo. This was when all of us began to smell a fat rat. A man who was caught by the police in Trans Amadi trucking away another company’s industrial equipment would rather go to court to get judgment plus N5m claim for fundamental human rights breach and would return to court for another N600m. The same man would get the owner of the stolen items arrested in Abuja. This was when his endless boasts that he would drown my friend and teach him that he (Okeke) was one of the owners of Nigeria began to dawn on us. Things seemed to be working for this politician.

The strange twists continued the following week when my unsuspecting friend got to court the next Monday only to see that the accused (Hon Okeke) and his lawyer brought in a police internal memo saying that the matter was no longer a criminal case but a civil case. Do lawyers and accused persons gain access to police internal memos? My friend and his lawyers communicated with the O/C Legal and the police in Port Harcourt, they denied any knowledge of the signal. They said they too were seeing the signal for the first time and in court. Imagine! An accused and his lawyer have seen a police signal which the police did not even see.

Luckily, the High Court was able to dismiss Hon. Okeke’s second fundamental rights suit. The judge asked him to go and answer to the criminal charge; that he cannot commit crime and continue to hide under ‘Fundamental Human Rights’ suits to evade trial. It was clear that the eyes of the men in the judiciary began to open to gimmicks and tricks and lies being deployed to make somebody look like a victim of police arrest whereas the case was open stealing of your tenant’s wares.

At this point, my friend through his lawyers filed a petition immediately to the IGP and he intervened. The plots and webs apparently woven by Hon Okeke began to play out before the IGP through officers that may have been deceived. It was here that my friend realized that the IGP was made to believe that Hon Okeke got a judgment against my friend but that the police went ahead to arrest him, which was a complete lie. The truth was that he was arrested at the scene of the crime and the arrest was far before his suit for enforcement of his fundamental human right. He was rather arrested at the scene of the incident; carting away another man’s industrial equipment. It was after he was arrested that he went for his first fundamental human rights case, definitely not before. It was he, the landlord, that had committed the crime and had been arrested. It was also he that went to the court to get a court to shield him from the law with FHR enforcement suit. It was at this point that the IG clearly understood the true situation of the matter and he now ordered that the matter be sent back to the people that handled it before to carry on. The IG told them to call back that wireless message. My friend was communicating these processes and developments to me and I was shocked that an innocent landlord-tenant deal was turning into this kind of bizarre matter.

Imagine where the wireless message from the police was not allowed to get to the DIG office, did not get to CP, not to OC Legal, etc. It appeared the message was issued on a Friday at the close of work and it got straight to court in Port Harcourt on Monday morning. It was for this reason that, according to my friend, the Police invited the other party to come and explain how they got a police internal memo that they submitted to the court. This was further evidence that those who were accused of stealing the industrial equipment were doing everything possible to find how to scuttle the criminal charges in the court. That was what happened.  

Using Armed Men to Loot More:

Meanwhile, at one point, my friend alerted me that this his landlord I connected him to, Hon Okeke, went and procured over 40 soldiers to storm the yard again to steal his drilling pipes, construction equipment, generators, porta cabins etc with four trailers. This must be when he could no longer get his way with the office of the Deputy Sheriff.

This man denied my friend access to even take his property or use it for business on the basis of his FHR judgment (which was being challenged at appeal). He must have deceived the soldiers into believing he had a court order to take away those equipment. He broke the police padlock and went inside. He now procured the soldiers numbering over 40 with army Hilux. They came with about five of their vehicles, beat up my friend’s people that came to intervene. They loaded four trucks again to leave the premises.

My friend called both the Army and Police. The Army leadership said they were not aware of such operation. The CP in PH called the Army. That was when the soldiers left, but they left with Hon Okeke. This man was making every attempt to sell those drilling pipes. Nobody knows what he saw in those items. My friend was just screaming; that he has not seen this kind of thing before in his life.

False petitions and effort to strip my friend of security

While this was going on, he was writing false petitions against my friend, against the police, against the O/C Legal. This man even told the Police authorities to withdraw my friend’s police security (escorts) that were officially approved for him and his company. He kept saying that my friend is a criminal. He said police should not give him or his business places any protection. Some of us have been wondering what his intensions were that he is bent of inciting the police into withdrawing my friend’s escorts. I, as a person, do not know whether it was to leave my friend and his business vulnerable to attack as he has often threatened. That is why my friend is calling for the world to hear him, and I am helping him to cry out.

Boasts:

He, Hon Okeke, boasted to everyone’s hearing that he would deal with my friend, that he would unleash assassins on him and his family. My friend became scared as a result of the incessant threats. It was ceaseless threats to my friend’s life. He (Hon Okeke) told him to his face that he would drown him, that he would turn the case against him; that he would show him that he schooled in DMGS in Onitsha and that he would mobilize the DMGS boys against him, that he owns Nigeria, that he has the police and judiciary under his arms; that my friend should go to his village and ask who he is. This is how this matter came about.

Evading Justice

All the while, the police had been trying to get him to face the law, he was hiding. Even when my friend and his team went to court for illegal seizure and sale of his assets, the bailiff looked for him to serve him, it was not possible. My friend has a list of the things that have been moved out from Hon Okeke’s open compound which are presumed to have been stolen. My friend says he must press to recover his property. My friend’s lawyers have raised the threats to life in some of the petitions to the IG and the Commissioner of Police Rivers State. I was also informed that he (Hon Okeke) even slapped one of the officials who was trying to let him know that he had filed an appeal before he started selling the items. When an appeal is entered on a matter, every other action is stayed. He did his best to evade service and he was served at No 15 Abana Street, GRA, but he came back to say he is owner of No.7 Abana Street, GRA. He was nowhere to be seen around his business premises.

His lawyer was overhead urging them to sell off my friend’s items that heaven will not fall. It is strange how a landlord would get that kind of mind and guarantee to sell off his tenant’s industrial equipment, a tenant whose rent is still running. On one of the occasions while my friend’s workers were trying to access the gate to the yard, Hon Okeke ordered his forklifts to lift off my friend’s Hilux vehicle into the premises and he locked up the place. It was fully an illegal action.

Rip Off:

My friend is an impulsive philanthropist and giver. It seems his landlord discovered this and cashed in. I am aware that Hon Okeke has severally made loan requests from my friend, including begging him to send money to different persons he said were in need or that he (Hon Okeke) had made promises to. My friend obliged him several times, until it became too frequent that my friend stopped giving him. This seems to have made him to turn to a tiger. I am also aware that at some point Hon Okeke had asked my friend if he wanted to sell the pipes, a reply he got in the negative, a resounding no. One will now wonder what brought about all these.

Rent Situation:

My friend entered the place in 2019, but Hon Okeke told him not to pay for the first six months due to the massive repair works my friend carried out there and around the yard. So, the rent started from January 2020. If you add the N500,000 payment in addition, it should end in June 2023.So, as we talk, the rent is still subsisting, but my friend’s industrial equipment for which he paid so heavily were locked out for close to a year now.

Conclusion:

This is what my friend is going through. I feel someone needed to bring the real story to the general public so that the blackmail my friend is going through can be seen by all and sundry.